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Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in A Game of Thrones, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Politics and Power
Climate Change and Collective Action
Gender and Power
Honor and Integrity
Identity
Summary
Analysis
Sam sits down on the bench at breakfast beside Jon. Sam is elated. He’s just learned that he’ll be named a brother of the Night’s Watch alongside Jon and can’t believe his good fortune. Commander Mormont tells those who will be sworn in that day that they should think carefully before taking their vows. The penalty for deserting the Night’s Watch is death. Commander Mormont then asks if any of the men gathered observe the old gods. Jon stands and says he does. Sam also rises. He says that his family worships the new gods, but those gods have never answered his prayers, so perhaps the old gods will. There’s no godswood (a sacred place for those who observe the old gods) at Castle Black, so Sam and Jon will go to the one just beyond the Wall later that night to say their vows.
Sam’s excitement about being named a brother of the Night’s Watch shows the positive impact of Jon’s leadership. Sam’s decision to take his vows in the godswood with Jon and embrace the old gods shows the way that the two become something akin to family to each other. Both have been exiled, in one sense or another, from their respective families. In the wake of that exile, they have forged a kind of family together by looking out for each other and embracing each other’s customs and beliefs.
Themes
Commander Mormont reads out the placements for each of the recruits. Some will be rangers, others builders. Sam is named a steward and will support Maester Aemon. When Jon’s name is read, he’s surprised to hear that he will be a steward too. He’ll be supporting Commander Mormont. Jon is petulant. He expected to be named a ranger and thinks being a steward will be the same as being a servant. He’s convinced that Alliser sabotaged him. But Sam points out that heirs often follow in their father’s footsteps by first attending meetings and reading their father’s letters. Sam says that it seems likely that Commander Mormont is training Jon to be a commander. Jon reevaluates his initial reaction and apologizes for acting the way he did.
After Jon learns that he’ll be a steward instead of a ranger, he reverts once more to the kind of petulant behavior that marked his arrival at the Night’s Watch. Notably, Sam talks him down from that attitude, again illustrating the closeness between the two. The possibility that Commander Mormont is training Jon to become a leader in the Night’s Watch also shows that authorities at Castle Black have noticed the leadership potential that Jon has demonstrated throughout training.
Themes
Jon and Sam go past the Wall later that night, escorted by rangers. Jon’s direwolf, Ghost, accompanies him. They make their way to the godswood to recite their vows. In the godswood, they both kneel and say the words they have memorized. As they rise, one of the rangers says they should leave at once—there’s something in the air that alarms him. Ghost then catches a scent. He disappears and comes back carrying something. When they inspect what it is, they see that it’s a human hand.
The appearance of a dismembered human hand evokes a scene like the one that opens the novel, in which Will sees the bodies of wildlings mysteriously killed. In the opening scene, the Others kill Waymar and Will, demonstrating their power. This scene, then, suggests again that the Others may be afoot and that the Night’s Watch may start to get some clues about why so many men have recently gone missing.
Themes
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